US, Kenya and others seek ‘expanded force’ to fight Haiti’s gangs

A group of seven countries including the United States on Wednesday asked the UN Security Council to strengthen the multinational force tapped to combat gang violence in Haiti, according to a letter.

The letter also announced the seven countries will form a “group of partners” to oversee the mission, which was first approved by the UN Security Council in 2023 to assist Haitian authorities in containing the spiraling violence in the impoverished Caribbean nation.

Over a year after the Multinational Security Support (MSS) Mission first deployed, with the initial effort led by Kenya, the situation in Haiti continues to deteriorate, with its capital Port-au-Prince almost entirely under gang control.

“The MSS mission lacks the resources and capacity to fully meet the growing challenge,” the letter said, co-signed by the United States, Canada, El Salvador, Guatemala, Jamaica, Kenya and the Bahamas according to AFP.

Of the 2,500 police officers that the MMS had hoped to deploy to Haiti, only about 1,000 from six countries have been sent, including more than 700 from Kenya.

“Only an expanded force, provisioned by a UN Support Office and authorized to undertake counter-gang operations…can substantially reduce gang control,” the letter to the UN Security Council continued.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in February had recommended creating a new UN office tasked with supporting the mission, which is also faced with a lack of financial support and equipment shortages.

Guterres also suggested creating the “standing group of partners,” which the letter co-signatories agreed to create, along with Kenya as the current “Force Commander.”

The group would be responsible for securing funds for any personnel not provided by the future UN office, as well as recruiting more law enforcement to participate in the mission and providing “strategic representation and coordination for the force.”

Kenya leads the MSS team since June 2024 when they arrived in Port-au-Prince.

There are about 800 personnel under MSS working with the local police in efforts to fight the gangs.

The U.S. has so far allocated over $835 million in financial and in kind-support for the mission, including $150 million in foreign assistance for logistics support and equipment, $60 million worth of equipment and services and up to $625 million from the Defense Department.
In comparison, a U.N. Trust Fund dedicated to raising money for the current Kenya-led mission has so far raised only $112.5 million.

Even if the U.S. manages to get the U.N. Security Council to endorse a new mandate for a multinational security support force in Haiti, the administration will find itself hard pressed to reach its goal of doubling the number of personnel from 2,500, which has yet to be achieved, to 5,000.

The United States intends to get a new international force to take over from the Kenyan-led mission in Haiti.